UAE postal service halts services to embattled Qatar

By Mohamed Ibrahim

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AA) - The UAE’s state-run postal service on Thursday announced the suspension of all services to Qatar amid an unprecedented diplomatic crisis between Doha and a handful of other Arab capitals.

In a statement, the Emirates Post Group announced that, in line with a government directive, it had suspended all postal services to Qatar “until further notice”.

In a related development, Bahrain on Thursday announced the closure of all Qatar Airways offices on its territory.

Two days earlier, Bahrain’s Civil Aviation Authority revoked Qatar Airways’ operating license, giving all the carrier’s offices in Bahrain 48 hours to close their doors.

On Monday, five Arab states -- Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Bahrain and Yemen -- abruptly cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism.

Mauritania followed suit the next day, while Jordan downgraded its diplomatic relations with Doha.

Saudi Arabia has also closed its land borders with Qatar, geographically isolating the tiny Gulf state.

Doha, for its part, strenuously denies that it is a sponsor of terrorism, describing the moves to diplomatically isolate it as “unjustified”.